In cellular networks, the network sometimes need to get in contact with a wireless device which is not currently connected to the network. In order to get hold of the wireless device, paging is used to request the wireless device to perform a connection request to the network. This starts a connection procedure, and when the wireless device is connected to the network, it becomes available to receive an incoming call and/or to receive data.
For the paging to occur, e.g. in LTE (Long Term Evolution), the MME (Mobility Management Entity) in the core network sends an S1-AP paging message to one or more radio base stations. The radio base station(s) then creates and sends an RRC (Radio Resource Control) page message over the air.
In the prior art, paging is directed to a plurality of cells, e.g. a tracking area comprising a number of cells, to improve the chance of directly making a wireless device connect to the network.
US2012/0295643 presents selectively paging a user equipment (UE) in a plurality of cells in which the UE is estimated to be located. A method is presented which comprises: determining, for the plurality of cells, the number of observations that is made of the UE in each of a number of sets of cells among said plurality of cells; determining a paging sequence for the UE in the plurality of cells based on said determined number of observations in each of said sets of cells; and enabling paging of the UE in the plurality of cells according to the determined paging sequence. However, the presented procedure is relatively complicated and would benefit from simplification, while keeping security high.